The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire, more particularly to a tread pattern suitable for heavy duty tires capable of improving wet performance without sacrificing wear resistance and uneven wear resistance.
In order to improve wet performance of a pneumatic tire, the tread portion is usually provided with wide circumferential grooves to provide good drainage.
In the heavy duty tires such as truck/bus tires, however, due to such wide circumferential grooves, the rigidity of land portions or ground contacting portions between the wide circumferential grooves is liable to become insufficient for maintaining the wear resistance and uneven wear resistance, therefore, a rib-type tread pattern is usually employed in the heavy duty tires designed for use on mainly dry asphalt roads. In order to further improve wet performance of such tire, if land portions or ribs are provided with lateral grooves, the rigidity is decreased and wear is liable to occur.